Refined by Fire
by oOTinaOo
Summary: A fire in Shinwoo's apartment building. The kids are inside, and the trio is there to save the day.


This simple little plot-bunny grew out of hands. Now, it's a 3k monster. I hope you enjoy it anyway ;)

Special thanks, like always, to Vapor for fighting the demons, also known as "grammar" and "punctuation."

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**Refined by Fire**

"Why did the boss make us work this long? It's already growing dark," Tao's whiny voice interrupted the silence between them. M-21 and Takeo shared a glance, and Takeo took it upon himself to answer that question. "_We _had to work this long because _you _wanted to earn a bonus this month."

M-21 felt the help-seeking glance from his side but tried to disregard Tao. It was hard feigning ignorance, but over the last months, he had built up a certain resistance to Tao's pouting. On his other side, Takeo emphatically looked around at the scenery.

A few seconds of renewed silence trickled by, then Tao, who seemingly had enough of being ignored, spoke up again, "I hope the children are still at home."

"They won't be. They're at Shinwoo's place for a group project today," M-21 answered without really thinking about it. A shocked gasp from his left made M-21's own lips curl up.

"Why do you know that, and I don't?"

"Regis," M-21 answered with a smug smirk since the hacker clearly showed that he wasn't too happy that something escaped his attention somebody else knew. "And no, we won't visit them on our way home. Leave them alone."

"But it's only a five minute detour!" M-21 felt Tao's arm snake around his shoulder. A shrug, and the tentative touch only got stronger. Irritated, M-21 looked to his right, but it seemed like he couldn't expect any help from Takeo. The sniper stared into the distance, a deep frown edged on his face. For being distracted, he received a thump by Tao. Takeo only glanced in their direction once before he looked back at the skyline.

"There's a fire."

The two other men stopped and followed Takeo's gaze. M-21 could see a faint trail of smoke, and now, since he knew that it was burning, he was able to smell it, too.

"Shinwoo's apartment is in that direction," Tao softly said. M-21 shrugged his comrade's arm from his shoulder, and hurried down the road with the other two men right on his heels.

A minute later they stood in front of the apartment, too slow for M-21's liking, but the sound of sirens already approached. Curious onlookers kept the trio to an almost human speed. Dark plumes of smoke came out of the basement window and the front door, and the acrid smell scratched his throat as he breathed it in. His glance flew over the crowd as he searched for a certain red haired boy and his friends.

"They're not outside." Takeo's words felt like a punch to his stomach. Fire, thick smoke, the kids still inside...

"Second floor, the first door to the right," Tao conveyed the direction on their way to the front door. M-21 could hear him shout something to the man whom wanted to stop them, assumingly the caretaker of the house, but he didn't pay attention to it.

In long strides, he flew up the staircase. The air was hot and filled with smoke, which made it harder to keep the coughs back with every breath he took. His whole body tingled with suppressed, instinctive fear of the fire he knew laid below him and anxiety for the children.

From a floor below, he already heard their voices. Ikhan agitatedly informed a Mr. Kang that it was burning and that he should hurry up. Shinwoo told the other children that he would check up on the residents on the upper floor as M-21 reached the the last flight of steps. He was just in time to catch the back of Shinwoo's shirt and pull him back. He didn't care that the boy made a strangled sound or that he almost lost his footing.

"Out. Now!" M-21 snapped, his face only inches from Shinwoo's to drive home the message. As long as he still breathed, he wouldn't let that boy go up the stairs in a burning building. Before Shinwoo could argue, Tao had already sent Takeo to check on the upper floor. He himself shepherded Ikhan, and the man that the boy just had talked with, to the stairs.

"Suyi and Yuna are helping Grandma Yeun," Shinwoo spoke up with a hoarse voice, pointing to the door next to his own.

Suyi, an old lady on her arm, came out of the apartment Shinwoo had just referred to. She hurried her but did a good job in covering up her own fear even though the panicked glimmer in her eyes gave her away. M-21 realized that he still kept a strong grip on the boy's shoulder to keep him from running upstairs and released him.

"Help Suyi. Right away, no lingering." He held Shinwoo's gaze until the boy nodded, a silent promise in his eyes. M-21 passed Suyi, giving her a quick once-over to make sure she was alright before he entered the old lady's apartment.

He called out the missing girl's name, but it came out lower than he intended to. Instead, the scratching in his throat finally won over his stubbornness to keep the coughing suppressed. It got harder to breath, now. Only a minute or two since they entered the building, but it got so much worse. The smoke stung in his eyes, and the air grew uncomfortably warm. Breathing low to suppress the coughing fit, he searched the rooms for the girl. He had to hurry.

"Come here." Soft, even M-21 almost would have not heard it over the noise that the arriving firetrucks and ambulances made if he hadn't listened for the girl's whereabouts.

With more force than necessary, he pushed open the door to his right. Almost hidden behind the big king sized bed, Yuna knelt on the floor as she frantically tried to reach something under the bed. Her eyes were wide with fear and red due to the smoke. M-21 felt waves of anger wash over him. The stupid child! The world around her was filled with toxic smoke and fire, and she tried to save some of the woman's possessions? As he hurried over to her, his hands were clenched to fists so strong he felt his fingernails dig into the soft skin of his palms.

The breath he took to calm down only ended up in making him cough again, more violently this time. Finally, she noticed him. All the rude words he had wanted to throw at her for risking her life vanished into thin air as she looked at him. Her haunted eyes overflew with sheer relief, so much trust in him to make it right, so much confidence of being safe when he was around. He couldn't shout at her, not any more.

Without further ado, he gripped her upper arm and tugged her on her feet. But instead of obediently letting him lead her out of the room, as he would have expected her to do, she struggled against his grip. He had no other choice than to let her go if he didn't want to hurt her. His normal security in using adequate strength vanished the moment his survival instincts had started to shout that this was a dangerous place, even for him.

"The dog!" she said, the two words begging for his help and stating she wouldn't leave it here in the same time. He wanted to grab her arm again, shake her, tug her out of the room, but the tears now streaming down her face, due to the smoke or due to fear, made it impossible.

M-21 dropped down to his knees. Deep under the bed, in the far corner, sat a small dog. It shivered, too afraid to move into the now softly wooing girl's arms.

"Come out," M-21 ordered, used to the puppy at home obeying his wishes. The dog perked his ears and the trembling lessened, then it slowly came out of its hiding place. M-21 felt the seconds trickle away, the urgency only intensified by the soft cough he could hear from the girl kneeling beside him. As soon as the dog was in reach, he extended his hand and tugged it out from under the bed by its collar. It yelped, and with a bit more care, M-21 maneuvered it into Yuna's arms.

He pulled her up with him, and he needed every ounce of self-control to keep his touch light and careful. The same paralyzing fear that scared the dog into pressing its trembling body into the safe harbor of Yuna's arms, made him want to escape this death trap, too.

Yuna didn't protest against the rough treatment or his untypical behavior. Once again the trust she put in him to make it right left him baffled.

The way to the front door only took seconds, and M-21 tore it open. It was like walking into a wall of hot air and smoke, and M-21 blinked rapidly to clear his eyes from tears. The biting smoke stung in his eyes and the hot air made it hard to breathe. His lungs already had decided that they didn't like the smoke and wanted it out now, resulting in dry coughs. And if he felt this bad, Yuna had to suffer even more. For a second he was afflicted by doubts. Should he lead her outside? Or should they wait for the firemen to come get them? A loud crack, like something important just _broke _inside the floor below them, eliminated all doubts.

"Stay close beside me," M-21 ordered, surprised how hoarse his own voice sounded. He didn't have to tell her. As soon as he started his quick but cautious way to the stairs, he felt a hand lock into his suit jacket. Her hand quivered so much he could feel it through the shifts of the fabric, but still she followed him down the corridor towards the stairs.

His heart beat a wild staccato now, and his breaths were fast and shallow, not due to strain, but because of the anxiety he felt. He had to stay alert; he had to watch out for possible dangers and guide the child safely outside. And he had to do it fast. Even he felt highly uncomfortable, a human should suffer even worse.

Cautiously, he led the way through the smoke. He heard heavy footsteps downstairs, and he could see blue flickering lights through the stairwell windows. The firemen had arrived? M-21 didn't spare another thought on them. Other questions were more important. On his way up, did the stairs make the same creaking sound? What if the fire was blocking the way out? In the worst case, he would drop all pretense and jump out of the second story, Yuna safely held in his arms. Even though the masquerade was vital, the children were more important.

As they reached the last flight of stairs, Yuna coughed permanently, and he got the feeling she no longer held to his suit jacket only because of fear. He let his hand hover behind her back in case she lost her footing or her legs gave away.

By now, he had given up on holding back his own coughs, and tears escaped his irritated eyes. A few meters away from the point he remembered the front door to be, firemen in full suit appeared at their sides. He hadn't noticed them before, which spoke volumes of how hard it was even for him to navigate through this hell.

M-21 clenched his teeth as one of the men grabbed his arm to lead or help him out of the house. The instinctive reaction consisted of shrugging him off, even hurting him, but that would only have prolonged his stay here. The way they escorted Yuna and him outside, they firemen shielded them, no matter how uncomfortable M-21 found it. So he decided to humor the firemen.

Outside, he took a deep, relieved breath. The biting smoke still burned in his nostrils, but he was able to breathe freely again. He tore his arm out of the fireman's grip after seconds, relief flooded through him. Yuna yelped before coughing again, effectively drawing his full attention towards her. He relaxed somewhat since the trigger for her gasp had been the dog's sudden jump out of her arms. With her presence close to him, safe outside of the burning house and near him, he finally had time to think about the other children. He was sure that Tao would have led them safely out of harm's way, but he still craved for the affirmation.

A wildly waving person caught his eyes, and he saw Tao standing over in a safe distance with the two human boys, grinning at him tried to hide the worry in his gaze. A short nod, and the grin now reached Tao's eyes. Suyi was a few meters away and sat next to the old lady she had brought out of the house. The dog wagging its tail had curled up in the woman's lap, while she wept tears of joy. That only left Takeo, who seemed to be still in the house, but M-21 was positive that the sniper could fend for himself.

The only thing that now worried him was Yuna's pale pallor and the dry coughs racking her body. Contrary to her, his urge to get the stinging mix of hot air and grime out of his lungs had almost diminished as soon as he left the hellfire behind him.

"Please, come with me. Let me check up on you for a sec," a resolute-looking man in paramedic uniform said before M-21 or Yuna had the chance to join Suyi or Tao and the boys. M-21 furrowed his brows at the bidding voice. The way, the paramedic gently held to Yuna's arm, though, made him bite back any rude comments that threatened to leave his tongue. With a last, reassuring glance towards Tao, he followed Yuna and the man towards one of the ambulances.

He was pretty sure that he didn't need any medical care since even the burning sensation in his eyes had vanished completely, but he had every intention of standing guard while the medic checked on Yuna.

"Sit down. And here, let me put this over your face." The paramedic ordered the girl, but his voice was caring. The same gentleness he showed as he helped Yuna to fix a breathing mask over her mouth and nose. "Better?"

Yuna nodded slightly, and the man smiled at her, his hand already on her wrist to check her pulse. For a few more moments, his full attention was on the girl while M-21 vigilantly kept watch on his actions. Then the paramedic glanced at him, seemingly content about what he found out about Yuna's health.

"You should sit down, too. Here's another oxygen mask. We won't have you keel over." M-21 glared at the man. The paramedic glared right back without flinching. "Once again: sit down, use the mask, no strolling back into the building. I'm back in a few secs."

The man disappeared to the side to help his colleague to take care of the people that had just came out of the building. M-21 took the chance to let his eyes wander over the crowd. Instantly, he saw Tao joking around with the boys. Suyi talked with the grandmother, but glanced occasionally over to Yuna. At the entry to the apartment complex, M-21 saw Takeo's hair appear over the crowd. All of the people he held dear were safe. So, with a defiant look to the paramedic, whom was still throwing glances back to them, M-21 sat down on the bumper of the ambulance and reached for the second oxygen mask. The paramedic disappeared into the crowd, and M-21 let the mask fall again without ever putting it on.

His ears picked up a fireman's words a few meters away. It seemed like everybody made it out of the house safely. Shinwoo would be relieved. And the girl sitting next to him, too. She was far too caring. M-21 glanced down at Yuna, turning his body slightly towards her.

"Are you alright?" It was a stupid question, even M-21 knew it. Her skin was ghostly pale under her flushed cheeks, and tears had left faint trails in the smut on their way down her face. Grime covered her hair and clothes, and she trembled slightly over her whole body now that the adrenaline was leaving her system. For a few more seconds, she stared at the animated crowd before turning to him. He couldn't tell what was going on in her head, but the haunted look left her eyes. A small smile appeared on her lips.

Her right hand loosened the death grip on the blanket, and she tugged down the breathing mask until it hung laxly around her neck.

"I am, thanks to you. And the dog, too." Her voice seemed unfamiliarly rough, and even those few words made her cough again. Apart from that, she seemed surprisingly well.

A warm feeling bloomed in his chest at her thanks. He still wasn't accustomed to these kind of words, neither hearing nor saying them, but he liked the easy way the children used them. Nonetheless, he schooled his face into a cold glare.

"Put that back on immediately," M-21 snapped, with a nod indicating to the oxygen mask around her neck that Yuna's right hand unconsciously fumbled with. Her smile faltered for a second before it flourished with renewed vigor. She obediently put the mask back into place without saying a word.

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The dog, by the way, is a Yorkshire terrier. Small enough to be carried by girl without problems. Why I didn't write it in the story? M-21 isn't really interested what kind of dog it is, even if he knew the breed.


End file.
